royal baby - All posts tagged royal baby

In another break with tradition, royal baby Prince George’s first official portraits won’t be posed by a top photographer, but be home snaps taken by mom Kate’s family. That means the first Palace-sanctioned pics of the future monarch will reflect the camera skills of aunt Pippa, and grandparents Mike and Carole Middleton — and appear first on Twitter.

While of little surprise to British odds-makers, the choice of “George” as the first name for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new son may sound strangely exotic to U.S. parents, who chose names including Jayden, Logan, Wyatt and Tristan far more frequently than George in 2011, the most recent year comparable data for the U.S. and Britain is available.

George ranked No. 165 on the list of most popular baby names in 2011, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration, with the name meaning “farmer” registering on 2,309 births. That was well behind the heavy-weights — Jacob, Mason, William, and Jayden — which together accounted for nearly 74,000 of U.S. registered births.

www.babynamewizard.com

In contrast, George was No. 12 on the list of most popular U.K. baby names, according to Britain’s Office for National Statistics, accounting for 4,347 registered births. That was outranked by Harry (as in the nickname of the royal baby’s uncle), Oliver, Jack and Alfie.

It’s hard to escape breathless accounts from St. Mary’s Hospital in London that, yes, the Duchess of Cambridge, far better known to all as just Kate, has gone into labor and that the third-in-line to the British throne could be born any minute. But there are ways to avoid news of this baby — and all other babies.

How likely is it that David Beckham will be godfather to the British royal baby? A lot more likely than it looked a week ago, going by the latest bookmakers’ odds.

Having opened at 50-1, they’ve shortened all the way down to 16-1, after the soccer star and underwear model gave a TV interview about the birth. Did it remind people that Beckham and wife Victoria got an invite to Prince William and the then-Kate Middleton’s wedding? Maybe not, given the former Spice Girl seemingly isn’t Posh enough to rate backing for godmother: She’s a long shot at 500-1.

Like Ed Miliband at a trades-union knees-up, Prince Charles sashayed out of the royal helicopter. The crowd dispersed. We shrugged and bought the kids some ice lollies. It turns out traders reacted much the same way when Charlie came into this world 64 years ago. Not so with William, however.

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